(Feel free to guffaw at the idea that the Obama administration is plunging into private equity markets at the same time the president bashes Mitt Romney for his career in … private equity.)

The SBIC program is administered by the Small Business Administration. In increasing numbers, “firms have been taking advantage of low-interest leverage provided by the debenture SBIC program to raise senior loan funds, mezzanine funds and even buyout funds,” Reuters says.

The SBIC's debenture program “is designed to get small businesses the capital they need, be it senior debt, mezzanine debt or equity, as part of growth financings and buyouts, often with a sponsor at the helm,” according to the news service.

Riverside “structured its latest micro-cap buyout fund as an SBIC — its first time participating in the program,” according to Reuters. “It raised $137 million this year in private capital, and secured access to $150 million through the debenture program, for a total fund of $287 million.”

The debenture SBIC program “has also benefited from some significant tailwinds,” the story notes, as a tight fund-raising market has more sponsors thinking creatively about ways to raise money.

“The SBIC program not only lets them leverage the amount of money they can raise from private investors, it also makes them more attractive to banks, which can use their commitments to meet requirements of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977,” Reuters reports. “Among the Riverside SBIC fund backers are BMO Harris Bank N.A. and Key Community Development Corp.”

Have I met you?

The folks at Bloomberg must really like Govind Davis, CEO of MCF Technology Solutions, a 45-employee software company in Cleveland. He provides the lead anecdote in not one, but two, Bloomberg stories this week.

In this piece about technology enabling more companies to go virtual, Bloomberg notes that MCF “will save around $4,500 a month when it closes its only office in the next few weeks.”

Only a handful of employees used the space, anyway, according to the news service. Most of them worked from home while staying in touch through Skype, WebEx online conferencing, and collaboration software built in-house.

“Because of the kind of work we do, it's not really necessary to have a physical office,” Mr. Davis says. “We're confident that people will be able to do their work. We have lots of tools.”

A second Bloomberg story looks at how one of those tools is the “virtual assistant.”

Mr. Davis, the story says, “never met his assistant Jackie — although they work closely together. All he's seen of Jackie is a photo she posted with her online résumé and on Skype, which is almost their sole means of communication.”

Jackie Cullen, whom Mr. Davis hired four months ago, “is known as a virtual office assistant, an independent contractor who does secretarial work from her home in North Carolina,” according to Bloomberg.

She works only when needed, usually about 30 hours per week at $12 per hour, to book travel, schedule appointments, and do research.

“Certainly, it takes a mental adjustment,” Mr. Davis says. “But Jackie, she's turned out to be great, and I have no concern about paying her.”

The September debenture sale for the SBA 504 program will be $495 million in 20-year debentures (sold at 2.20%) and $53.1 million in 10-year debentures (sold at 0.98%); a total of more than $548 million.

The 20-year debenture is the second-largest, trailing only the August 2012 issue's size of $507 million, according to NADCO, the trade association for the nation's 270 Certified Development Companies, or CDCs.

The SBA 504 loan is designed to help small business owners get long-term financing for capital assets such as the purchase of real estate and equipment. In most cases, a 504 project includes a first mortgage from a private-second lender that covers 50% of the cost, and SBA-guaranteed second mortgage from a CDC that covers 40% of the cost, and 10% equity from the borrower.